The field of the present invention is computer command interfacing and the provision of user control functionality in a data processing system. More particularly, the invention relates to that category of input/output system known as the user interface, species of which include graphical display and menu-driven command capability.
The use of graphical user interface technology to operate data processing equipment is known in the art. Commercially available graphical user interface systems include "WINDOWS", by Microsoft Corporation, and "PRESENTATION MANAGER", by International Business Machines Corporation. By the expression "graphical user interface" is meant a data input/output interface providing a graphical display, including text and associated graphics information, as opposed to a text-only display. Such systems are ideally suited and conventionally adapted for menu-driven operation. That is, they allow a user to control computer operations by selecting commands from one or more menus exhibited on a display without entering statements in alphanumeric form via a keyboard. Selections are made using a mouse or other control device that moves a pointer to an icon image in the display. An icon is a visual symbol in a graphics display which signifies information, function, or a menu entry. An icon is "selected" by moving a mouse-controlled pointer or cursor to it and pressing a button on the mouse. In the art, this is referred to as "point-and-click".
In the prior art graphical user interfaces, data entry into an application is supported by document display representations with data entry fields. In this regard, where data entry into a data store is desired, data entry fields are used to enter such information and provide various views of that store. However, in existing graphical user interfaces, the fields have a size which is fixed and can be changed only by modification of the underlying code. Inherently, the fixed size of a data entry field limits the amount of data which can be placed in the field and entered in the data store.
Investigation has revealed a need for a graphical user interface control system that would allow a user, by its activation, to create and modify highly structured form documents with one or more expandable data entry fields. Where data entry into a data store is desired, structured text forms with expandable data entry fields could be used to enter a variable amount of information into the data store. Such text forms would appear as a document and would also represent a collection of data entry fields with labels in the main work area of the window (user area). Expansion of an existing entry field would be required where the application permits the user to add text descriptions associated with specific facts in the data store. A preferred system would provide a data entry form possessing the characteristics of both dialogue boxes and text files in that users would have entry fields to specify requested data, but would be able to tailor the form by dynamically expanding one or more data entry fields where permitted by the application. Preferably, this control capability would be provided in a visually apparent manner, indicating to the user that data fields can be expanded and suggesting the manner in which that expansion can be implemented.